Spent 6 hours yesterday (Sat.) morning in my "back 40" exploring the creek area
within a 1/2 square mile of my house, that winds through and past an open
deciduous woods (where cows graze), weedy fields, tangled thickets with deer
and cow trails, a very mature open pine woods bordered by a wooded pond, and a
tall sycamore grove--great variety of habitat. I found 60 species (along with
a beaver, many deer, and 3 foxes), including a pair of Wood Ducks, Green Heron,
Kestrel, Yellow-Billed Cuckoo, Kingfisher, Red-Headed Woodpecker, Acadian and
Willow Flycatchers, Swainson's and Wood Thrushes, BLUE-WINGED and Yellow
Warbler, La. Waterthrush, Grasshopper Sparrow, and Baltimore and Orchard
Orioles.
Following are the species of general interest:
Great Blue Heron
Green Heron - croaking from top of snag by the pond
Wood Duck - 2
Red-Shouldered Hawk - 2
Red-Tailed Hawk - 3
Kestrel
Killdeer
Yellow-Billed Cuckoo
Barred Owl - 3 (I found a dead one by the fence between an open field and open
deciduous woods a week ago--it's nice to know we still have a good population)
Chimney Swift - ~8
RT Hummingbird
Kingfisher
Red-Headed Woodpecker - 3 (one poking his head in a nest cavity)
Pewee - 6
Acadian Flycatcher - 2
Willow Flycatcher - 1
Phoebe - 1
Great Crested Flycatcher - 4
Eastern Kingbird - 8
White-Eyed Vireo - 6
Red-Eyed Vireo
Barn Swallow - 2
Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher - 10
Swainson's Thrush
Wood Thrush - 2
Catbird - dozens!
Brown Thrasher - 4
Cedar Waxwing - 5
Blue-Winged Warbler - he sang two different songs yesterday (when I found him)
and today--Bee Buzz and an odd Trill-Buzz
Yellow Warbler
Louisiana Waterthrush
Yellowthroat - 5
Towhee - 5
Chipping Sparrow - 2
Field Sparrow - 4
Grasshopper Sparrow - 3 - what's odd is that they seem to have just arrived,
because I have not heard them at all before, but I heard at least 3, first last
evening at 8:45! (nearly dark), and early this morning (5:45) as well as later.
Indigo Bunting - scads
Red-Winged Blackbird
Meadowlark - 5
Orchard Oriole - pair at nest
Baltimore Oriole - 3-4 males
I can't believe I've lived here 14 years and haven't figured out how to cross
the fences and creek to discover this gem of an area in my own backyard until
earlier this spring. I can only hope it escapes the developers for many years
to come!
Mary Ann Good
Lincoln, VA (near Purcellville)
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